{"id":5065,"date":"2011-12-22T10:55:06","date_gmt":"2011-12-22T18:55:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=5065"},"modified":"2012-01-04T14:15:30","modified_gmt":"2012-01-04T22:15:30","slug":"have-an-escape-not-an-exit-from-street-photography","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2011\/12\/22\/have-an-escape-not-an-exit-from-street-photography\/","title":{"rendered":"Have An Escape, Not An Exit From Street Photography"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Joel<\/a><\/p>\n

(Above image copyrighted by Joel Meyerowitz<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n

Eric\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Note<\/strong>: This article is by\u00c2\u00a0Ollie Gapper<\/a>, a street photographer based in the UK- and now a weekly contributor to the blog. Stay tuned for more of his \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ollie Gapper Thursday\u00e2\u20ac\u009d posts! \u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

With any genre of photography its easy to become saturated in your work and the work of others around you. In street photography, regardless of the numerous variations in individual photographers approaches and the wealth of locations and types of people we are granted visual access to, we still, slowly, become numb to the photographic impacts that once enthralled us. This is why I, for one, enjoy periodically dabbling in different genres of photography, whether it is shooting or viewing, to allow my mind to refresh and recharge from the relentless practice that is street photography.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Make it an escape, not an exit<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"\"
Image from Joel Meyerowitz's "Aftermath"<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I made a near catastrophic mistake. On my last escape period from street photography, I almost completely exited the genre. It was only a few days ago that I realised I hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seriously shot street for almost a year \u00e2\u20ac\u201c almost unforgivable. \u00c2\u00a0I am now having to really push myself to get back into my street shooting, which is harder than you may think. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m shyer than before now, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcseeing\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 things as sharply and promptly and my mental barriers have begun to really come back. This is not something I am proud of \u00e2\u20ac\u201c in fact I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m very embarrassed \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and its something I really want to make sure you guys don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do. Shoot street everyday, even if its on your phone.<\/p>\n

You may just \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcdiscover yourself\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/strong><\/h2>\n

That said, what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m trying to say is that its beneficial \u00e2\u20ac\u201c hugely so \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to put your concentration on work other than street every now and then. Take Joel Meyerowitz and his 10×8 landscapes, ranging from Cape Cod to Ground Zero to NYC Parks, his landscapes don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just allow him to escape from his 35mm street work, but have also made up an enormous amount of his more contemporary work and publications. \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Check out \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Cape Cod<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Bay Sky<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Legacy\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Aftermath<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201c great books with very nicely written introductions (especially Cape Cod).<\/p>\n

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Joel Meyerowitz "Beach Chairs" from his book "Cape Light"<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I have, over the course of my near-exit from street photography, experimented heavily and studied in many different photographic genres, which I believe will help me in my future street shooting. Portraiture, still life, painting and landscape (both traditional and urban) discovering artists along the way which have given me very exciting ideas for a few future projects of mine. I have found myself rushing to be the first person inside a super market so I may make large format images of the aisles and shoppers, buying more logs than I care to mention so that I may produce a photo documentary on the woodyard from which they come and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve produced more paper negatives than I have room for. Its been great, the experience has taught me a lot about photography and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve created some work I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m truly proud of and excited about \u00e2\u20ac\u201c work I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have created if I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d stuck to just street.<\/p>\n

I want to reiterate how important it is to make sure you keep shooting street, don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be like me, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m pretty much having to relearn stuff I thought I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d mastered (Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get complacent like I did).<\/p>\n

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Severin Koller - "Olga W\u00c3\u00a4scher"<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s three of the types of photography you may enjoy \u00e2\u20ac\u0153dabbling\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in which may help you further your street photography and refine your approach to it (the ones I do):<\/p>\n